Ferdinand Schiess

Ferdinand Schiess (7 April 1856-14 December 1884) was a British Army corporal who was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery while serving in the Natal Native Contingent at the 1879 Battle of Rorke's Drift.

Biography
Ferdinand Schiess was born in Burgdorf, Switzerland on 7 April 1856, and, after his parents died, he was sent to an orphanage. He joined the French Army in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War, and, in 1877, he travelled to South Africa and volunteered to serve in the Natal Native Contingent of the British Army. Despite being wounded in the foot in January 1879, he fought gallantly at the Battle of Rorke's Drift on 22-23 January 1879, killing three Zulus while defending the hospital. In 1880, he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the first non-Briton and first Swiss person to receive the honor. He failed to find work after the volunteer forces disbanded, and, by 1884, he was sickly and homeless in Cape Town. The Royal Navy gave him food and shelter and offered him passage to England, but he died en route.